1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle body structure having a vehicle door hinge assembly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle door hinge assembly that pivotally mounts a door to a door mounting pillar of a vehicle body structure about a vertically arranged pivot axis.
2. Background Information
Vehicle doors are pivotally coupled to a vehicle body in a variety of ways. Many vehicle doors only open 90° or less. However, some doors are designed to open more than 90° by using a goose neck hinge arm. When a goose neck hinge arm is provided with a double pivot arrangement, the door can be selectively opened to different angles. Those double pivot hinges are generally used for cargo doors of van type vehicles to move the cargo door from a closed position to generally wide open positions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,887 discloses a vehicle double pivot door hinge arrangement including a U-shaped link that is pivotally coupled to a door hinges and a body hinges about pivot axes. The body hinge first allows the door to pivot from the closed position to a 90° degree intermediate open position about the pivot axis of the body hinge. Then, the door hinge allows the door to pivot from the intermediate open position to a 180° degree full open position about the pivot axis of the door hinge. The body hinge includes a hinge leaf provided with three bolt holes disposed forwardly of the pivot axis of the door hinge to be mounted on a longitudinal pillar wall of the vehicle body.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved vehicle body structure. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.